News

Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate reports: Gubernatorial challenger State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister holds a slight lead on incumbent Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, according to new polling released Friday. The exclusive News 9 / News On 6 poll, conducted between Oct. 3 and 6, shows Hofmeister with nearly a 4-point lead one month from Election Day. Among those polled, Hofmeister got 46.8 …

Bloomberg News reports: Abortion bans in Arizona and Ohio were temporarily put on hold by judges, allowing procedures in the states to continue while the nonprofit Planned Parenthood challenges the new restrictions in court. An Arizona appeals court on Friday put on hold the state’s strict ban on abortion, an 1864 law that took effect after Roe v. Wade was …

Axios reports: Hurricane Ian likely caused between $53 to $74 billion in insured losses from Florida to the Carolinas, with a “best estimate” of $67 billion, according to new data released today from modeling firm RMS. These preliminary damage totals would make Hurricane Ian the costliest storm in Florida history and second nationally to Hurricane Katrina when adjusted for inflation. …

The Daily Beast reports: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann received a particularly thorough security scan ahead of a Thursday tournament after he was accused of cheating in a tournament in St. Louis last month, which some fans wildly speculated was made possible by way of an anal vibrator delivering coded moves. Niemann’s security check at the first day of the U.S. …

CNN reports: New CNN polling in two critical Senate battlegrounds finds that Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly holds a narrow lead over Republican challenger Blake Masters, while there is no clear leader in the race in Nevada between Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and her GOP opponent, Adam Laxalt. The Arizona poll finds that 51% of likely voters are behind …

The Associated Press reports: The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has scheduled its next hearing for Oct. 13, pushing the investigation back into the limelight less than three weeks before the midterm election that will determine control of Congress. It will be the panel’s first public session since the summer, when lawmakers worked through …

Axios reports: Several robotics companies, including Boston Dynamics, are pledging not to support the weaponization of their products and are calling for others in the industry to do the same, according to a letter shared first with Axios. Robots, like drones before them, have a wide range of peaceful and even life-saving uses, but can be turned into war-fighting machines, …

Atlanta’s Fox affiliate reports: A new InsiderAdvantage/FOX 5 poll shows Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock leading Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the race for U.S. Senate in Georgia after a new report of abortion allegations against Walker. The poll of 550 likely voters in Georgia was conducted on Tuesday night and shows Warnock at 47%, Walker at 44%, Libertarian Chase Oliver …

The Wall Street Journal reports: When world chess champion Magnus Carlsen last month suggested that American grandmaster Hans Moke Niemann was a cheater, the 19-year-old Niemann launched an impassioned defense. Niemann said he had cheated, but only at two points in his life, describing them as youthful indiscretions committed when he was 12 and 16 years old. Now, however, an …

CBS News reports: Arizona is another battleground where strong opposing forces underpin the race. And in this state that was so close in 2020, election denialism does not find favor beyond a handful of those in the Republican base – nor do voters want it to be a campaign focus. What’s working in Democratic Senator Mark Kelly’s favor is the …

The Associated Press reports: Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner’s daughter whose frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia pulled her out of poverty and made her a pillar of country music, has died. She was 90. In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Lynn’s family said she died Tuesday at her home in Hurricane …

The Associated Press reports: North Korea on Tuesday conducted its longest-ever weapons test, a nuclear-capable ballistic missile that flew over Japan and could reach the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam and beyond, forcing the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts and halt trains. The South Korean and U.S. militaries responded by launching fighter jets which fired weapons at a target …

Reuters reports: Lawyers for Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, facing a U.S. lawsuit over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, told a court on Monday the crown prince’s appointment as prime minister last week ensured him immunity from prosecution. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in an operation …

USA Today reports: Democrat John Fetterman is hanging on to a six percentage-point lead over Republican Mehmet Oz in the nation’s most closely watched Senate race, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll of Pennsylvania finds, stoking Democratic hopes of keeping control of the Senate in the midterms. The Pennsylvania contest is believed to be the best shot Democrats have to …

The Hill reports: Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman is out with a new ad mocking his GOP rival Mehmet Oz and comparing the celebrity surgeon to a quack doctor character from “The Simpsons.” “Before there was Dr. Oz, there was Dr. Nick,” Fetterman wrote in a tweet Monday, referring to the recurring character from the long-running animated sitcom. “They …

The New York Post reports: Scores of Venezuelan migrants in New York City are hopping on vans to head down to Florida for Hurricane Ian clean-up, they told The Post. The migrants had scant information about whom they would be working for, but they still piled into vans in Queens that they said were headed to the Sunshine State over …

Reuters reports: The second round of Brazil’s presidential campaign kicked off Monday after right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro outperformed polling and robbed leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of an outright victory in the first round of voting. The unexpectedly strong showing by Bolsonaro on Sunday dashed hopes for a quick resolution to the deeply polarized election in the …

The New York Post reports: Two openly gay pols are vying for a congressional seat in Long Island in a historic first for the United States. Robert Zimmerman, 68, a communications executive, and George Santos, 34, a Wall Street investor, are facing off in New York’s third district covering Oyster Bay, Glen Cove, North Hempstead and a slice of northeastern …

The Associated Press reports: The race pits incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro against his political nemesis, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There are nine other candidates, but their support pales to that for Bolsonaro and da Silva. Recent opinion polls have given da Silva a commanding lead — the last Datafolha survey published Saturday found a 50% to 36% …

Mediaite reports: Rep. Bennie Thomson (D-MS) confirmed the House select committee investigating the Jan 6. Capitol attack will release its final report before the upcoming midterm elections. The committee’s final public hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday, but it was postponed as millions of Floridians braced for the landfall of Hurricane Ian. The storm made a second landfall in South …